Thursday September 16, 2004

New Carrera Structures & Figures!

Some enthusiasts not only enjoy building slot cars to a certain level of scale detail and realism, they like to have the layouts these models race on to be the same. Sometimes simply adding a few key structures is all that is needed to bring life to your layout and these latest buildings and figures by Carrera will certainly help you achieve that.

All of our structures and figures arrived safe and sound and we were ready to get started. It was the structures themselves that I was mostly interested in at first so we headed straight for the grandstands. I did this as nothing seems to dress up a corner or empty straight like a grandstand full of spectators.

Opening the box we found all the parts intact along with an instruction and peel and stick decal sheet. To say that these kits are easy to build is an understatement. The instructions are very simple and easy to understand and in less than 2 minutes our first grandstand was ready for decals and figures…not too bad! Again, the instructions for decal application are easy to follow and you should have your grandstand ready for placement on the layout with figures very quickly.

And the figures are important too. Adding a structure like a grandstand does help with added realism, but having it empty just doesn’t help accomplish the effect for me. The figures that Carrera are bringing us have the one quality in them I needed: pre-painted!

You may not think this is very important, but I assure you that for many of us it is. My wife Cindy used to be in charge of painting the figures we used to get because I simply did not have the time to do them. And it isn’t just time, but trying to paint realistic figures is not everyone’s line of expertise…especially mine.

The spectators and pit lane figures are all painted with a decent level of detail in my opinion. They are also pose-able, which allow you to have more flexibility in their placement on your layout. We utilized the #21108 which comes with the most figures (20) in the box for our first grandstand. We found a nice home on our layout for it, placed the figures inside and we were finished. From the time we opened the box, to the time we placed the finished structure on the layout was under 15 minutes. Most of this time was spent setting the figures up and adjusting them to suit our tastes.

There are some figures that come in the standing position such as the ones found in kit #21106. Inside there are small, clear plastic stands that the figures can mount to through a hole in the bottom of their foot. This is a good idea and I like that they included these bases.

Hint...Try gluing your spectators in place. The first time you accidentally bump or hit your grandstand and 30+ spectators go flying around you will understand why I suggest doing it:)

I suppose this all sounds a little too easy, but what can I say? Most of the buildings in this new line have very few parts to assemble with the instruction sheet being no more than a one page illustration. Adding structures like this without the need for advanced modeling skills is something I certainly appreciate and should please most of you looking for the same.

Of course there is more than just 1 grandstand. In fact, you can even add to this grandstand by adding #21101 single grandstand and stacking them. Once completed, these grandstands are also a very dominant feature on your layout measuring 14 1/2 inches tall. Of course you do not have to stack them together, but I thought the option to do so was a nice touch.

All of the other structures were as easy to build as the grandstands and thought they looked very good and complimented each other nicely. Not all of us have the room for many structures, but if you do these really add life to your layout. One of the main ones we focused on was the #21102 Press Tower. Again the instructions are very clear on assembly. NOTE: The instructions for the pit box underneath is on the back side of the instruction sheet.

As I stated, these buildings can be joined together to make many different scenery options. Below, are a couple you can build using this system.

The rest of the buildings will find their way onto our new Carrera PRO-X layout along with the pit crew figures, so stay tuned for even more on these scenery items in the future.

I have to recommend this line to anyone looking to add realism and detail to their layout. They are easy to build, very good quality, durable for our application, and look great. It is good to see extra accessories like this come our way as it just adds more fun to our already satisfying hobby.

-Harry 

As always feel free to contact me about this article or just the hobby in general at harry@homeracingworld.com, or better yet drop into our Message Forum and share your thoughts with other enthusiasts!

I would like to thank Carrera and LGB of America for providing us with these new kits!